2006 Red Bordeaux and a Few Others

K&L Wines, San Francisco
Tasted Saturday, May 30, 2009 by drwine2001 with 487 views

Flight 1 - '06 Reds (4 Notes)

  • 2006 Château Fonréaud

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Listrac-Médoc

    Clear, medium ruby. Nice floral nose with cassis. Light, clean, correct but unexciting flavors.

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  • 2006 Château Malartic-Lagravière

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    Medium dark ruby. Spicy, green notes raised the specter of underripeness, but this is not the case. Very good round, well balanced Claret with slightly drying tannins. Fairly open now, good value.

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  • 2006 Château Gazin Pomerol

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

    Medium red, lighter edge. Some sulfide to get by, but once you do, underneath is a wine with fine blackberry fruit, good balance with lower acidity than some, an elegant mouthfeel, and a roundly tannic finish. Not a lush Pomerol but still very good and perhaps better. For the intermediate term.

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  • 2006 Château Léoville Barton

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

    Quite deep and dark. All Cabernet Sauvignon on the nose. Dense and compact, although not quite as weighty as I remember the '05 to be. Focused blackberry and cassis with excellent ripeness and acidity. Superb feel despite significant tannins which will take decades to resolve. Wonderful persistence. Young, classic, and compressed, you can nonetheless easily see its quality. Without question, this stood head and shoulders above everything else today.

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Flight 2 - Older Reds (3 Notes)

  • 2005 Château Grand-Pontet

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

    Deep inky color that is very different from any of the '06s. Pungent, herbaceous nose. A lush entry is abruptly shortened by acidity and tannins which do not taste entirely ripe. Disjointed and my least favorite wine in this array.

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  • 2005 Château Léoville Barton La Réserve de Léoville Barton

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

    Medium ruby, lighter rim. Distinctly high toned and cedary. The aromatics are much more appealing than the palate, which is thin, lacking fruit, and dominated by a harsh tannic bite. Not having tasted this before, it is hard to know whether this is just an awkward, closed stage or not, but it is hard to muster any enthusiasm for it today.

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  • 1999 Château Lynch-Bages

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    Medium center with a mature, tawny edge. Beautiful secondary aromatics, which were shocking after tasting all of the younger reds which were so primary. Lean and light with some cedar and good retention of fruit. As you get through it, though, each phase is less and less impressive, since it shows some mid-palate dilution and a fading finish. Better to smell than to drink.

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Flight 3 - A Couple of Whites (2 Notes)

  • 2007 Château de Chantegrive Graves Cuvée Caroline Blanc

    France, Bordeaux, Graves

    Pale. Frankly stinky, cat pee nose mixed with grapefruit-"pungent" would be an understatement! White grapefruit fruit and then the Semillon kicks in to give it some body and texture at the end. In a word, this is a disjointed, unappealing wine that should be avoided.

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  • 2005 Château Rieussec

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    Light gold. Piquant, high toned nose of underripe pineapple, orange, wood, and coconut. Moderately rich but not that sweet, with a taste of honey that increases and is stronger than the botrytis seems on the nose. OK but not compelling dessert wine, too short on the acidity to have the needed zip. Then again, my frame of reference is late harvest Loire wines, which begin their lives with less tropical fruit and more acidity, so take my skeptical comments accordingly.

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